A father is accused of murdering his 14-year-old daughter during a ‘play-fight’ in their kitchen while cooking dinner.
Court heard how Simon Vickers, 50, stabbed daughter Scarlett Vickers at their home in Darlington, Co Durham, on July 5 last year.
She died from catastrophic blood loss after the blade penetrated 11cm deep into her chest and pierced her heart.
Opening the case at Teesside Crown Court, jurors heard how Vickers told a paramedic at the family home: ‘We were messing on. We were play-fighting and she lunged towards me and it just went in.’
Prosecutors claim Vickers, who denies murder, must have stabbed his daughter ‘deliberately with the knife’.
Opening the case, Mark McKone, KC, told jurors: ‘The knife must have been held firmly in the defendant’s hand at the time of the stabbing, with the defendant having a firm wrist and a firm elbow.
‘The knife must have been firmly in the defendant’s hand to cause that wound, which was 11cm deep.
‘The wound is too deep to have been caused accidentally.’
Emergency services were called to the family home in Geneva Street on July 5 last year.
Paramedics found Scarlett prone on the kitchen floor with a stab wound to the left of her chest.
Body-worn footage captured Vickers telling police officers that he and his daughter had been playing in the kitchen after he and Scarlett’s mother, Sarah Hall, had been ‘drinking wine, having a nice day watching football’.
In his interview, Vickers was asked if he was responsible for causing Scarlett’s death and replied: ‘I must be.’
He told how Scarlett was ‘throwing grapes’ at him and he was throwing some back.
Summarising his police interview, Mr McKone said: ‘He said he went to get her, Scarlett pushed him away so he grabbed the tongs and threw them at her.
Vickers denies murder. The trial continues on Thursday.
